| Soft News |
Me captain, you team: Very vain, very effective -
Shekhar Gupta, Indian Express
If you wanted to be so boringly accurate, wounded tiger is a description that will fit Imran Khan, now that he runs his campaign from his mobile phone, his battered trunk all bruised and bandaged. But he may not like that. Because tiger is now identified with the opposition. Or rather, more fitting, given the way he has run his campaign, with his enemy. In so many years, in fact, decades of covering electoral politics, I have never seen a more rude and vain campaign. What matters, however, is that it is working for him. |
Akhilesh pops out of laptops -
Manmohan Rai, Economic Times
Pitching it as a "new window" in their lives, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has kicked off a scheme to distribute free laptops to students, but it has instead opened the doors for withering criticism, with the government's opponents saying it is using state money to fund surrogate advertising of the Samajwadi Party. Yadav on Monday distributed 10,000 free laptops to Class 12 passouts in Lucknow as part of a plan to distribute 15 lakh computers for which the state government has awarded a Rs 2,858.70-crore contract to Hewlett Packard India. |
Rae Bareli: The status mismatch -
Deepa Jainani, FinancialExpress
Men at work” is the first sign one encounters as one nears the town of Rae Bareli while driving from Lucknow. The highway is being broadened from a two-lane to a four-lane one. A little further, as one approaches Bachhrawan block, a flyover is under construction. Similar signs of development are visible all over the town, which has become the newest address for several top-notch educational and research institutions in the country...
|
The prime time wild card -
Niraj Mishra, NewIndianExpress
It’s a massive office with 20-foot-high ceiling. The mahogany desk on one side adds to the sombre atmosphere of hushed silences and austere power. An archway leads to an office meant only for secretarial staff much smaller in comparison, but big enough for several captains of industry. Walls adorned with large oil paintings of famous parliamentarians look down benignly.
|
Built to win: Deep inside Obama's campaign tech -
Sean Gallagher, ARS Technica
The reelection of Barack Obama was won by people, not by software. But in a contest as close as last week's election, software may have given the Obama for America organization's people a tiny edge—making them by some measures more efficient, better connected, and more engaged than the competition. |
This time, Kullu Dussehra to be held under close EC watch -
Raghvendra Rao, Indian Express
On Wednesday evening, as the palanquin carrying Lord Raghunath — the ruling deity of Kullu — makes its way to the town’s Dhalpur ground, all eyes will be on Maheshwar Singh. The erstwhile Raja of Kullu will accompany the palanquin and will be performing many duties as the deity’s “first servant”. But this time around, Singh will also be closely watched by the Election Commission, given that he is among those contesting the November 4 assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh. |
Madonna: For better or for worse, we have a black Muslim in the White House -
Hillary Busis, Music Mix
Does Madonna actually think Barack Obama, a practicing Christian, is secretly Muslim? Or does she just enjoy poking fun at those who do? Regardless, she’s on the president’s side — though Obama’s campaign might not want her to be. At a concert in Washington, D.C. last night, Madonna refrained from taking swipes at Elton John or Lady Gaga. Instead, she took a cue from her politically-charged surroundings, pausing at one point to drink some water and muse about the sorry state of our government. After name-checking Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr. |
Dinesh D’Souza’s strident film about Obama makes people sit up -
Uttara Choudhury, FirstPost
Conservative scholar and Mumbai-born filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza has dropped a little surprise on the American moving going public: a modestly budgeted film that deconstructs why President Barack Obama may be toxic for America. The controversial film has already hit box-office gold and is now stirring a strident national debate. The documentary 2016: Obama’s America advances the idea that Obama pursues his father’s left-leaning, “anti-colonial” ideals. According to The New York Times, anti-colonialism is not presented in a warm and fuzzy way in D’Souza’s film but “as flaws consistent with the senior Obama’s multiple relationships, alcoholism and fatal auto accident in 1982.” |
MSY's gaffe enlivens Prez poll -
Times of India
The presidential poll on Thursday, which saw over 72% of MPs and MLAs casting their votes, was briefly enlivened by a gaffe by Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, who ticked a ballot in favour of Opposition nominee P A Sangma, only to tear the paper and vote for UPA's Pranab Mukherjee. The SP boss, who was among the early voters at Parliament House, first marked a vote for Sangma. Realizing his mistake, Yadav tore the ballot. His vote for Mukherjee was recorded on the second ballot, prompting Sangma's polling agent to demand cancellation of the vote. |
A village boy’s rise to Raisina Hill -
Joydeep Dasgupta, Uday India
One day while looking at horses in Rashtrapati Bhawan, Poltu said to his elder sister Annapurna, “See didi, how comfortable and respectable these horses are. I wish I would better be a horse here.” At that time his didi replied confirming his ability, “why are you thinking like that, rather think that one day you will become the President of the country. So that you can stay here comfortably and respectfully.” His sister remembers this incident, during early days of his political career, when he was first selected as Member of Parliament from Bengal and he took his beloved sister to Delhi. The whole nation may know him as Pranab Mukherjee but for his dear ones he is still Poltu. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Election Calendar 2012
|
|
By-Elections June 2
|
|
Assembly Constituencies
|
|
Neyyanttinkara
|
Kerala
|
|
Cortalim
|
Goa
|
|
By-Elections June 12
|
|
Parliamentary
Constituency
|
|
Nellore
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
|
|
|
Assembly Constituencies
|
|
Maheshwar (SC)
|
Madhya Pradesh
|
|
Nalchar (SC)
|
Tripura
|
|
Daspur
|
West Bengal
|
|
Bankura
|
West Bengal
|
|
Mant
|
Uttar Pradesh
|
|
Pudukkottai
|
Tamil Nadu
|
|
Tirupati
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
|
Allagadda
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
|
Rajampet
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
|
Rayachoti
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
|
Parkal
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
|
Ongole
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
|
Narasannapeta
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
|
Payakaraopet (SC)
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
|
Anantapur Urban
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
|
Yemmiganur
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
|
Rayadurg
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
|
Kodur (SC)
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
|
Udayagiri
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
|
Narasapuram
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
|
Prathipadu (SC)
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
|
Ramachandrapuram
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
|
Macherla
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
|
Polavaram (ST)
|
Andhra Pradesh
|
|
Kaij (SC)
|
Maharashtra
|
|
Hatia
|
Jharkhand
|
|
Presidential Election:
|
To be held before July
24
|
|
Vice- Presidential
Election:
|
To be held before August
10
|
|
International Elections
|
|
Egypt
|
Presidential 1st Round
|
23-May
|
|
Presidential 2nd Round
|
16-Jun
|
|
Mexico
|
Presidential
|
1-Jul
|
|
Venezuela
|
Presidential
|
7-Oct
|
|
United States
|
Presidential
|
6-Nov
|
|
South Korea
|
Presidential
|
Dec
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
